Core ecological issues

To date, the hunting [and gathering] way of life has been the most successful and persistent adaptation man has ever achieved. -- Richard B. Lee and Irven DeVore

Rarely do we hear in the media about the origins of our environmental plight. For the sake of the human future and that of other species, however, we must seek to identify and improve our understanding of the root causes of biodiversity loss and the destruction of our global life support system.

The problem of "delayed-return" subsistence

The emergence of "delayed-return" hunter-gatherer (DR HG) societes followed the great bulk of human history during which, as far as we know, all people had lived as "immediate-return" (IR) HGs. This may have paved the way for agriculture and civilization.

Article in which I begin to question common claims about "land management" among hunter-gatherers. Such land management became common with DR societies and appears to have had serious ecological consequences.

Not sure if the Shoshone described here were IR HGs, but this does illustrate something of the difference between the simplified ways of true (IR) hunter-gatherers and our modern tendencies to pursue "hard work" and "productivity."

National Geographic account of time spent with the Hadza. Gives a flavor of life in a contemproray immediate-return hunter-gatherer society. (Nine years on, already a bit outdated. See the following Science article.)

Very good, condensed overview of the current plight of the Hadza. Severe impacts of pastoralists, tourism, etc. Includes a quick look at the nature of research on this remaining immediate-return society.

Marshall Sahlins' landmark work transformed the way we understand immediate-return societies. Very different from the common vision of hunter-gatherer lifeways. See Gowdy's text (recommended books) for a longer version.

The problem of agriculture

Civilization is built on agriculture. It destroys the web of life and is fundamentally unsustainable. (Still, even more fundamental seems to have been the emergence in the upper Paleolithic of delayed-return societies. See the relevant links.)

Intriguing essay by John Zerzan. Drawing on anthropoligical literature, this traces the human shift to domestication and hence civilization. Highlights the contrast between undomesticated cultures and today's society.

Blog of Guy McPherson, U. of Ariz. professor emeritus of natural resources and ecology & evolutionary biology. Anti-civilization view with discussion of climate change and a prediction of "near term extinction."

By Kenneth Brower. "It is time for those of us who know wilderness, and who understand the idea of it, to wrest that idea back from its hijackers..." Solid response to writers who have promulgated the "the myth of wilderness" which is itself a myth.

Valuable publication for exploring a range of wilderness, wildlife, and ecological issues.

Carrying capacity

Some deny that this basic concept of ecological science applies to humans. But we are one of millions of species, a part of the natural world, as much subject to its dictates as any other. (See also the book "Overshoot" on the books page.)

Old essay of mine sets out a logical proof that we have overshot carrying capacity. It was chosen by Dr. John Wilkins of the Evolving Thoughts blog at scienceblogs.com, for the "carrying capacity" section of his links to "Basic Concepts in Science."

An quick sketch, my essay lays out the logic to demonstrate that we have never increased human carrying capacity. We have only overshot it. Includes consideration of the unsustainability of agriculture.